Escape
by Canadino
Summary: Hastiness was not his best quirk, but it was a helpful one, especially when dealing with a problem such as Kouki. Japanese names used, clingyshipping, Lucas/Barry


**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.**

Background music: -

**Note**: Japanese names abound; Kouki = Lucas, Jun = Barry, Hikari = Dawn.

Escape

Jun is impatient; he knows it and he doesn't like it. Although everyone around him knew about it and had gotten used to it, it is a habit he can't seem to shake. When things don't move fast enough for him, he takes initiative and speeds up himself. It had caused him immeasurable trouble in the past; when he was eight, he wasn't in the house long enough for his mother to warn him a Nincada swarm had been announced over the radio and was caught in the middle of it; when he was nine, he'd heard Jubilife City was having some sort of festival; he'd only told Hikari in a passing breath and didn't realize until he'd gotten back late at night that she had had her birthday party and he had missed it. When he was eleven, a rumor at Trainer School went that there were some sort of rare Pokemon that glowed at night in Lake Verity and had gone to find them (with Hikari dragged along to her dismay) only to remember as he submerged that he wasn't very good at swimming to begin with. Hikari had to save him, since neither set of parents were aware of this midnight outing.

There were tons of other little stories but they were enough to make Jun hate himself for being so quick to jump the gun. He couldn't wrack his mind enough to find a situation where his ability could actually be put to good use.

Fourteen, and a couple months out of Trainer School, he had already given up on finding a cure or a reason to keep optimistic about his quirk. He'd already stopped thinking about it when he called on Hikari (who rolled her eyes apathetically) to come with him to find a red Gyarados in Lake Verity.

Then, when the old man walked past, with the protégé around their age whose dark eyes lingered on him for a couple seconds more before leaving, Jun was suddenly glad that he could bolt. It seemed the only reasonable outlet for the Beautiflies taking wing in his stomach. Hikari didn't seem to notice anything different about the way he was talking a little faster and drawing attention away from himself to the suitcase lying in the grass. In fact, when the Starly attacked, he was a bit relieved to have something else to think about.

Granted, when the birds flew away and the adrenaline started ebbing away, the dark-eyed protégé came back and Jun found an odd sensation egging him on to jump into the lake and swim as fast as he could away. As Hikari nervously explained how the circumstances came to be that she was clutching an empty Pokeball in her hand, the boy turned to look at him again, and Jun looked down, suddenly speechless as the Piplup at his feet cocked its head up at him cutely. He wanted to run, but technically he and Hikari were in the wrong and good citizens did not flee at times like this.

When the old man Professor summoned them, Jun had wanted to wait for Hikari the next morning, in case they had to all meet together with _that boy_, but his instinct makes him stumble into Sandgem before he knows it. The boy is standing on the outskirts – waiting for him? – and smiles mysteriously before introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you, Jun. I'm Kouki." He extends a hand, and Jun's stomach flips again; the calculating grin on the former suggests some teasing going on. Jun takes the hand, pretending not to feel the Beautiflies use self-destruct in his stomach. Kouki keeps holding his hand a second longer than expected before nodding toward the lab. When Kouki turns around toward the lab, Jun wrings his hands on the green scarf around his neck and hopes no one notices. He has never felt this way toward Hikari before, which is what everyone says he should, because they are childhood friends and therefore should end up together. But this boy, Kouki, he hardly knows him.

He can hardly listen to Professor Rowan when the old man talks, because Kouki is standing next to him, _right_ next to him like a guard flanking a prisoner and their elbows touch if he shifts his weight on his feet. He wants to bolt, feels the need to _go, go, go_ making him jittery. He knows he looks feverish the way his face is heating up as Rowan formally introduces his protégé as he looks over and sees Kouki giving him that smile again. When the boy finally excuses himself to wait for Hikari, should she show up, Jun finally feels a little settled again, but the lab is large, the world is larger, and with permission to keep Piplup, Jun hardly feels the need to listen to Rowan. He never liked the rambling of adults in the first place.

When he runs out, he runs right into Hikari, colliding with her although this is hardly the first time. She steels herself and catches him, trying to calm him before he speeds off. He rushes off a fast explanation of himself as he glances at Kouki (damn that boy, always _smiling_ at him like that!) and runs off before she can keep him. He wants to say good-bye to her, since they will probably only cross paths once or twice in the future since the Pokemon world is vast, but when he looks back, he thinks _she and Kouki look good together_ and something urges him forward, away, away, away.

Everything went well for a while; traveling and battling and getting stronger made all this movement worth it; Piplup seemed eager to travel as much as he did and Jun was thankful for that. When he finishes battling (and winning) against Maylene, he'd gotten ready to hit the road again when he spots Kouki, poking around alleyways as if looking for something. For a moment, Jun is about to call a greeting when the fleeting feeling comes back and he quickly ducks behind a building to avoid being seen.

What on earth was Kouki looking for? He didn't seem to be the kind of person to lose his Pokemon; actually, he didn't seem to be the kind of person to lose anything at all. Not that Jun really knows the boy very well but he comes off as a very solid, reliable kind of kid. Hikari is solid and reliable too and that's why they are friends.

"Those Galactic people must have taken it after all," Jun hears Kouki mutter to himself before straightening up. Shifting back in the shadows, Jun wonders how he had turned out to be such a furtive, hiding kind of person. He isn't really _hiding_; no, he just happens to be standing next to a building, out of sight, watching someone. His mother raised him better than that. "You can come out; I saw you there."

His face is only flushing because he'd been caught; no more. He wonders what would happen if he pretended not to hear and is going to follow through on that when Kouki appears out of nowhere, right next to him, leaning into his personal space. Jun nearly lets out a sound of surprise but he only jumps back, smacking his back right against the wall. He hears Kouki laugh and frowns.

"What're you hiding here for? I'm not going to bite you."

"I was just…" Quick, he has to come up with an excuse. Surprisingly, he is good at getting away, but not very good at quick thinking. "I was just taking a shortcut from the gym."

"Through a dark alleyway?" Kouki studies him with skepticism. "That's dangerous. You could get jumped."

"Who would jump me?" Jun sticks his chest out despite himself. "I'm a boy, and I could easily fend them off."

"Yes, but you're cute enough to be first thought of as a girl." That's not anything a normal boy would say! Jun thinks this is because Kouki has been hanging around Professor Rowan for too long. That old man probably made him immune to such embarrassing things to say like that, even if it _is_ true (which it isn't!). Jun feels his face heat up again and the inkling of that triumphant smile on Kouki's face makes him sock the boy on the arm and storm off. No, he won't take verbal abuse like that.

He doesn't know why, but the call of the wild doesn't beckon him and he finds himself lingering in Veilstone longer than he'd anticipated. He sees Hikari come and wants to call out, to insert himself in her life for a moment to see if she is doing better than him (she beat him last time, and that will be her last victory!), but when she comes up to the gym, he sees Kouki approach her and they talk. They get along, he sees. Kouki does not tease her like he teases him. How rude, to only treat girls one way! Obviously he only wants to get on her good side and Jun wants to rush up and tell her not to get so familiar with Kouki because he's a two-faced jerk. But if he did that, Kouki would smile at him again and he would run before he could get out any more warnings. It's good like this, he convinces himself, just making sure that she doesn't get burned by him. It's alright for him.

Later, Kouki tells her that he's lost his Pokedex (whatever _that_ is) and that Team Galactic took it from him and would she like to come with him to get it back? Again, Jun finds himself troubled with this. He's much stronger than Hikari (no matter what their battle record said) and Kouki saw him first; why didn't he ask _Jun_ to go help him get it back? There's rejection there, somewhere, Jun knows. Kouki likes Hikari, he concludes. Getting in their business would just be useless and pointless. Pastoria it is. He ignores the hurt feeling, because there's more important things at hand.

When he is done fighting Byron, Rowan finds him (how does that old man do it?), with Kouki in tow. He wants Jun and Hikari to come meet them at the library, and if Jun sees Hikari, please let her know. Kouki smiles at him like always, like he doesn't know Jun knows his secret crush on Hikari. Jun can't seem to make himself look Kouki in the eye. Well, he knows his best friend. He knows Hikari would not go after a boy like Kouki.

Hikari finishes her business at the gym pretty quickly (ooh, he must be careful, she must be stronger than he thought) and tries to keep up with his explanation about the library and he thinks she's not really listening. "Kouki and Rowan are waiting for us," he says.

"Kouki's here too?" Hikari asks.

"Yes." Why does she care? She suddenly looks interested. She couldn't like the boy, could she? He couldn't see why she would; Kouki may be smart, but he used his smartness in such mean ways. And he certainly wasn't anything else with his trainer abilities or good looks. When he brings Hikari up to the third floor, he notices how Kouki looks at Hikari, with interest, and how she gives him _a look_ and he backs off, says that he will go. Rowan gives him a piercing glare and he relents and sits back down, feeling awfully like a third wheel (Rowan doesn't mean anything so it doesn't matter).

After the earthquake, Jun is filled with purpose. Obviously those Galactic grunts aren't up to any good and he has to check out Lake Acuity to make sure the lake he was assigned wasn't tampered with. He can do a good job! He has a bad taste in his mouth leaving Hikari with Kouki (and Rowan, he adds after an afterthought), but he will trust his friend will use good judgment. He heals up and sets out to the snow-covered terrain when he sees Kouki almost materialize from the trees.

"Why do you always run away from me?" he asks before Jun can say anything. "I don't think you would be afraid of anyone, so I don't think you're afraid of me. I thought I could talk to you with Hikari, since you seem so at ease with her, but even with her, you left so quickly."

"I just…" He doesn't need to justify himself, or anything for that matter. "I just wanted to see if the Lake was alright."

"You don't need to be so hasty." Kouki steps closer and Jun wants to back away, but that might be seen as cowardice. "What's wrong? You're always so uneasy around me. Do you not like me or something like that?"

Jun grips the strap of his bag. "It's not that," he says, and wonders if he should breech the fact that Hikari is his dear friend from childhood and if Kouki hurts her, he'll have to answer to him, and Hikari isn't _all_ that great as he thinks, why, when they were younger, Hikari practically pushed him in front of a Bidoof that didn't even want to hurt them! The point wasn't that he was supposed to protect her in the first place but to be so abandoning was

Kouki steps forward again, and before Jun can blurt out what he wants to say about Hikari, takes his wrist gently and kisses him on the mouth. Just like that! In front of the forest, where all the Pokemon can see them! "What about that?" Kouki asks, smiling as he knocks his forehead against Jun's affectionately.

Unexpected public display of affection! "It makes me want to run away even more!"

"Then go." Kouki lets go of his wrist and steps back. It's that smile, that charming smile. Jun musters up everything he's got and leans over to peck Kouki on the lips, wincing slightly as they knock noses. Without pause for a breath, he dashes off, knowing that if he looks behind him, Kouki will be watching him. He's got a lot of time; at least, as much time as it takes for them to get to Snowpoint, until he has to deal with any aftermath that results from his actions, reckless as they may be.

On a positive note, he thinks he will not need to worry about extra clothing in the snowy weather if the warm feeling he has now persists.

[=]

_Omake_

When Kouki excuses himself from the group, claiming something about forgetting something in the Pokemon Center and _blatantly_ running in the same direction Jun just left in, Hikari sighs, twisting her mouth in an expression of impatience. "Boys are so stupid," she mutters to herself, knowing that when Kouki comes back, he will be flustered if she mentions Jun. She knows because she recognizes that stupid lovestruck expression he gets when he talks about Jun, just like when her mother talks about her father.

"What did you say, Hikari?" Professor Rowan asks, looking confused about being suddenly abandoned by two of their group. Hikari looks at him and opens her mouth but shuts it and shakes her head.

"Stupid."

[=]

Owari

Note: If someone told me that at my age, I would still be jacking my sister's Diamond and finding out what 'clingyshipping' is, I would probably have choked them with their own DS. Alas, here I am, slaving away at this fanfic. But these two are so cute, I couldn't possibly have left them alone!


End file.
